Sport

Cookson makes Winter Olympic call for cycling

CYCLING supremo Brian Cookson has called for track cycling to be moved from the Summer to the Winter Olympics.

Lancashire’s Cookson, who was elected president of the UCI – cycling’s governing body – last year believes there could be a host of benefits to move track cycling to the winter games.

He said: “Let’s think about the Winter Olympics, why does it have to be snow and ice.

“The reality these days is that the base for the winter Olympics the last few times has been two or three hours drive away from the mountains.

“If you have a problem with summer Olympics where the whole thing is perceived as over-heated with too many facilities, too many sports, too many competitors and so on, why not look at moving some of the other sports indoors that traditionally take place in the northern hemisphere winter?

“Why not look at combat sports like judo, or other indoor sports like badminton? You could even say what about putting track cycling in the Winter Olympics?”

Cookson, the former director of regeneration for Pendle Council, has campaigned for cyclo-cross to be included in the winter games and added: “If we moved track cycling to the Winter Olympics and that allowed us to have more track cycling events and more medals, that could be a pretty good outcome.”